Gunn's Report on US Conservation Captures the Realities of Working in an Everchanging Field – and Finds Hope Along the Way
 

In San Luis Valley, an Artist Demystifies the Complex Hydrology Behind a Community's Chronic Water Shortage
 

Notes From the Field

Photo by Hans von Sonntag
 

In June, the ILCN traveled to the North Pennines National Landscape in the UK to speak at the 3rd European Conservation Finance Bootcamp, co-hosted by the North Pennines National Landscape, Finance Earth, the Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union of Germany, the ILCN, and our partner networks Eurosite—the European Land Conservation Network and the Conservation Finance Network. The event brought together 40+ practitioners, financial innovators, and policymakers in Newcastle, UK, to generate new ideas and identify opportunities for conservation funding and financing in Europe.  

"The event demonstrated significant appetite for conservation finance solutions across Europe while identifying specific pathways for scaling successful approaches," wrote Harm Schoten, Director of Eurosite, the European Land Conservation Network.

Designed to help address Europe's 37-billion-euro annual conservation funding gap, the Bootcamp equips stakeholders from across sectors with the tools and knowledge necessary to unlock funding for nature and forges important alliances among those stakeholders. 

This year's event had several concrete outcomes, including the announcement of the Eurosite Working Group on Nature Finance & Land Stewardship, the launch of a newly funded LIFE project on peatland restoration in Europe and LIFE Biodiv CrEW, which will test biodiversity credits on European wetlands, as well as the establishment of the Conservation Finance Bootcamp as an ongoing capacity building initiative for European practitioners. 

Through the ILCN and the Conservation Finance Network, participants also gained insights from conservation finance experts not just from within Europe but across four continents. Peter Stein, Managing Director at the Lyme Timber Company, shared perspectives on the growing sophistication of the conservation finance field in the United States and highlighted approaches such as environmental bonds as new avenues with relevance to the European context.

Philip Tabas, Senior Advisor to The Nature Conservancy across its international programs, and Ellane van Wyck, Head of Impact at the Sustainable Finance Coalition based in South Africa, spoke on the key role of tax incentives in financing private land conservation and the role of finance accelerators in developing new finance solutions. The ILCN’s Chandni Navalkha moderated a global session, which featured Michael Cornish, Policy Lead at the Australian Land Conservation Alliance; Will Abberger, Conservation Finance Director at the US-based Trust for Public Land; and Vanessa Garcia, International Business Developer at Terrasos, a Colombian company focused on environmental investments.

"Most importantly, the Bootcamp revealed that Europe stands at a critical inflection point for conservation finance," wrote Schoten. "The regulatory frameworks, market opportunities, and technical capabilities are converging to create exceptional conditions for scaling nature-positive investments. The question is no longer whether conservation finance will grow in Europe, but how quickly and effectively the conservation community can capture these opportunities."

Are you or someone you know working on an innovative project, emerging research, or other major development relevant to the international land conservation community? The ILCN is looking to profile experts and practitioners about their current or recent work. For more information or to recommend a practitioner, please reach out to Lily Robinson at lrobinson@lincolninst.edu. 

We invite you to join the International Land Conservation Network LinkedIn Group. This forum is intended to facilitate and strengthen connections amongst our network participants; to share updates, news, and resources regarding policy, practice, and innovation in private and civic land conservation across six continents; and to stimulate discussion regarding topics of strategic importance to this global community of practice.

This is a private listed group. To become a member, search for "International Land Conservation Network" on LinkedIn and request to join. 

The ILCN is looking for submissions of artistic work with a connection to land and land protection to feature on our website and in upcoming newsletters. We are open to poetry, short stories, personal essays, visual art, music, and more. Submissions can be sent to Lily Robinson at lrobinson@lincolninst.edu. Please include a short description of the relationship your piece shares with land, nature, or the environment.